First Lady Has Lunch with D.C. Homeless

The first Black First Lady, Michelle Obama was seen wearing plastic gloves as she served out risotto to 50 homeless people in Washington DC last week, according to reports. Ms. Obama was at Miriam’s Kitchen for the event and chatted freely with the guests about their plight, volunteering and her height as they stood in the serving line. The meal also included steamed broccoli, home-made apple-carrot muffins, wheat rolls and salad made from the fruit that the President’s office had donated.

Miriam’s Kitchen served 55.000 meals to more than 4,000 homeless people last year. A majority of those people were male and Black, while a few had mental or physical illnesses. Some of the people who find food in the kitchen are veteran like Samuel Hinton, who had served in Vietnam. He had been homeless for the last three or four years and said, “I liked what she did, to come down here in our world. There have been a lot of first ladies but none ever touched base like this.” Hinton had admitted to Michelle Obama that he was not doing particularly well and she had asked her assistant to take down his name and number. He also told her that he lived on the streets because shelters are dangerous for him and he is dangerous for shelters, also adding, “I could snap at any day being in that environment. I just stay on the street or wherever I can sit.”

Ms. Obama entered the dining room several minutes after the guests had entered and she began talking to them right after she came in. She was greeted by a heavily pregnant woman and enquired about her due date for delivery. She also met a homeless man who said he wants to ride through America to raise funds for the homeless. She asked him to talk to her assistant. At the end of the lunch, she joked, “I got people.”

Michelle Obama at Day 1 of Democratic National Convention (DNC)(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)